1Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Kosin College of Medicine, Korea. 2Department of Preventive medicine and Public Health, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea.
ABSTRACT
To measure the serum succinyl trialanine p-nitroanilide hydrolytic activity as new index of liver function in workers exposed to organic solvents, this study conducted 114 workers in department of shoe-making of shoes factories. The results obtained from this study were as follows: 1. The mean values of serum GOT, GPT, gamma GT in whole workers were 22+/-12.32, 20+/-9.65, 28+/-21.35IU/l, respectively and the mean value of serum STN hydrolytic activity was 0.08 0.05. 2. The serum STN hydrolytic activity was significantly higher for male(p<0.05) and there was no difference among the groups of age. 3. There was no difference in the groups by working hours but significant difference in persons who worked over 3 years or were exposed to toluene over 100ppm(p<0.05). 4. The correlation of the exposed dose of toluene and serum GOT, GPT, gamma GT and serum STN hydrolytic activity were statistically significant(r=0.027-0.518). 5. The exposed dose of toluene was most explainable variable and statistically significant among the factors affecting serum STN hydrolytic activity(p<0.05).